Friday, December 11, 2009

Happy Unofficially Official Agent Day!!

Or it might be "Happy Officially Unofficial Agent Day!" Hmmm...

In any case, the amazing Kody Keplinger (who not only shares my love of Gossip Girl and all things Forbidden Romance, but also has a FABULOUS book coming out in the fall called THE DUFF that has ALREADY BEEN OPTIONED FOR A MOVIE. Oh yeah, and Kody is 18. And a freshman in college. She is lucky I love her, or I would be forced to hate her.) came up with this idea that today would be a day of celebrating the Awesomesauce Of Agents. Y'all know how I feel about Awesomesauce, so of course, I HAD to jump in! Besides, sometimes when you read writing/publishing blogs, you come across a lot of negativity about agents, and that brings the sads. Whenever I see people say something like, "Well, all an agent does is sell my book and take a cut of my money," it hurts me in my soul-region. Because a good agent- nay, a FABULOUS agent- does so much more than that!

I have sung Agent Holly's praises many, many times on this blog, so by now, you should already know that she is Everything Amazing and Good. Still, I'd like to give you some specifics!

1) She Is Hilarious

I guarantee you every single one of Holly's clients who talks about her today will mention this. Now, Bringing the Funny is certainly not a pre-requisite for an agent, but it is something I personally look for in people I work with. (Except my accountant. She need not Bring the Funny ever. I understand.) During the first conversation I had with Holly, she cracked a joke about "Deliverance," and I immediately was like, "Yes, this is the gal for me!" Part of the reason Bringing the Funny is so important to me is that publishing can be very scary and very serious sometimes. Having someone who makes you laugh in the face of all that scariness is invaluable. Also, she found the "Face-Punch" scene in "New Moon" every bit as funny as I did, and being able to make "Face-Punch" jokes makes the world a brighter place, truly.

2) She Makes Me Feel Like Her Only Client

Hey, have you ever been around a bunch of writers? Then I think you'll agree we're all incredibly secure, self-sufficient, emotionally balanced people without even a hint of neuroses.

You know, except not.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that writers are crazy-pants, so there are times I email or call Holly really just to meet my crazy-pants quota. I'm convinced something I wrote sucks, or I have the World's Most Random Question About Publishing, or I want to work on a novel that can best be summed up as BLADERUNNER meets MY GIRL...

Now, Holly has a lot of clients. Can you imagine what her day would be like if we all went crazy-pants AT ONCE? (Come to think of it, I'm sure we have.) But when I have these moments of nuttiness, Holly always- always- promptly emails or calls me back, usually that same day. She never makes me feel crazy-pants, and she never makes me feel like I'm bugging her, even though I know she's super-busy. That takes special skills, people!

3) She Knows Her Stuff Like Whoa

During that first phone call with Holly, we were talking about HEX HALL (then called TOO NEAR THE GLASS if you'll recall! Oh, how long ago that seems!), and I asked around how many editors she thought she might submit to. She immediately replied, "Thirteen." While reading the book- which, I should add, she did in less than 48 hours- she had also made a list of all the editors she wanted to send it to. I was so impressed with that. It showed me that A) she was really passionate about my book, and B) she knew the market BIG TIME. Over the past nearly two years I've been with her, Holly has proven that initial impression right over and over again. I once called her out of the blue to talk major career stuff (See Above RE: Crazy-Pants), and it did not give her one second's pause. She knew the details of multiple foreign contracts without having to look it up, she knew when the best time to pitch a new project would be, she knew that I maybe needed to settle down and eat a cookie...okay, that last bit may have been implied.

4) She <3s Her Books

Holly has a real love for every project she takes on, and that enthusiasm shows. She goes to signings for her authors, and Twitters about a beautiful cover, or an awesome review. She's every bit as happy as the author- heck, maybe even more!- when she makes a perfect match between book and publisher. All of this may sound like a given in an agent, but trust me, it's not! Having someone who loves your book and believes in you as a writer= priceless. Holly has been 100% on TEAM HEX since the beginning, and on days when I'm convinced I suck, and the book sucks, and the whole writing part of my brain sucks, Holly is there to talk me off the author-ledge.

There are a million more reasons why Agent Holly is Made of Win, but I think this gives you the best overview of why I'm so, so grateful to have her as my agent, and why she'd have to scrape me off like a barnacle if she ever wanted to get rid of me!

If you want to read about MORE Agents of Awesome, stop by Lisa and Laura Roecker's blog and bask in the agent-love happening over there!

16 comments:

Serenity said...

Excellent awesomesauce, Rachel. I laughed out loud - so happily - when you talked about the crazypants. Oh how true.

Addison Fox said...

As someone who feels so incredibly fortunate to also be on Team Root, I can't agree with you more, Rachel.

Happy Unofficially Offical Agent Day to Holly.

She is seriously awesome!

Addison

holly said...

It is seriously so easy to be good at your job with clients like you! Am suffused with love and floating above my chair. Thanks!!!

Unknown said...

Well, Holly MUST be awesome if she reps a star like you, Rachel!!!! <3

Manda Collins said...

OMG, Rachel! I thought I was the only client who went crazypants on poor Holly. I don't know whether to feel relieved for me or sad for her!

Another proud member of Team Root! Holly rocks the awesome--hard and with some serious feeling!

Jill Myles said...

I'm going to chime in on the "Gone crazypants and Holly talked me down" thing.

She is awesome. She can never switch jobs, ever, or there will be much sadness in my life.

Anonymous said...

I have no choice but to stalk your blog now, thanks to that Face Punch comment. I actually just downloaded the song that plays during that scene, and every time it comes on I have to try not to laugh, because all I hear, "No, I'm going to blow YOUR freaking head off," and all I see is Bella's awkward why-am-I-on-a-date-with-two-dudes expression. :D :D :D

Happy Agent Day, Holly and Rachel!!! Sounds like you guys make a great team

Heidi Torres said...

It is seriously so easy to be good at your job with clients like you! Am suffused with love and floating above my chair. Thanks!!!

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